John P. Preskill - US grants

EIA -0086038
Kimble, H.J.
California Institute of Technology

Title: Information Technology Research: Institute for Quantum Information

An interdisciplinary team of researchers in Physics, Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science are establishing an Institute for Quantum Information (IQI) to facilitate the investigation of quantum information science to provide new capabilities in the revolutionary field of quantum computing. To this end, efforts are being made to develop new algorithms for the manipulation, processing, and distribution of quantum information (including information capacities of communication channels, reliable schemes for distributed computation, efficient quantum error correcting codes). Investigations of physical systems for the implementation of quantum computation and communication, as well as coherent nanotechnology, principally by the way of theoretical models and analysis, are being performed. The team is also pursuing techniques to develop active control of quantum effects in nanoscale integrated circuits involving systematic approaches to the suppression of unwanted quantum effects via on-chip feedback networks and methods for stabilizing and exploiting emergent quantum behaviors in the context of analog/hybrid VLSI.

This award provides continued support for the Institute for Quantum Information (IQI), which was founded at Caltech in September 2000. The IQI is devoted to building the theoretical foundations of quantum information science across a broad front encompassing quantum algorithms, quantum cryptography, quantum information theory, fault-tolerant quantum information processing, and physical implementations of quantum computing. Basic advances in all of these areas are needed to bring revolutionary quantum technologies closer to realization.

The strength of the IQI rests on three distinctive qualities: a focus on interdisciplinary research, an emphasis on fostering the career development of world-class postdoctoral talent, and devotion to an active visitor program. The IQI promotes synergistic interactions among scientists with a variety of backgrounds. Physicists and computer scientists collaborate on investigations of quantum algorithms and quantum cryptographic protocols. Control theorists and physicists team up to illuminate the structure of entanglement. Theorists and experimenters join forces to conceive feasible realizations of quantum hardware. The IQI has attracted and trained top postdoctoral scholars, seven of whom have moved on to faculty positions (or the equivalent) elsewhere, thus significantly strengthening the world effort in QIS. The visitor program fuels intellectual excitement, facilitates collaborations and exchanges of scientific ideas, and performs a highly valued service for the international QIS community.

With the end of scalability of conventional silicon-based information technology on the horizon, it is vitally important to explore aggressively new paradigms for information technology. IQI contributions are dedicated to broadening the nation's technical base and ensuring US leadership in the future development of quantum science and technology.

Funding for this award is provided through the Physics at the Information Frontier program in the Physics Division and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate and the Emerging Models and Technologies for Computation Cluster in the Computing and Communications Foundations Division in the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate.

In January 2009, the United States National Science and Technology Council issued a report entitled A Federal Vision for Quantum Information Science. The report proposes that The United States "... create a scientific foundation for controlling, manipulating, and exploiting the behavior of quantum matter, and for identifying the physical, mathematical, and computational capabilities and limitations of quantum information processing systems in order to build a knowledge base for this 21st century technology."

A Workshop on Quantum Information Science has been organized in response to the NSTC report. The workshop, held 23-25 April 2009 at the Tysons Corner Marriott in Vienna, VA, brings together leading theorists and experimenters drawn from physical science, computer science, mathematics, and engineering, in order to assess recent progress in QIS and identify major goals and challenges for future research. The workshop includes open evening sessions so that all participants can express their views concerning the priorities for a national QIS initiative. The workshop will be followed by a report that will be submitted to the Federal agencies that sponsor or perform QIS research. This award, using resources provided by these same agencies, provides funding to cover the cost of holding the workshop and preparing the report.

The intellectual merit of this proposal stems from the workshops potential to identify the central challenges facing QIS research and to formulate a plan for facing these challenges. Its broader impact will be achieved if the workshop and report help to launch a national QIS initiative.

The Institute for Quantum Information and Matter (IQIM) is a center-level activity that spans Quantum Information Science (QIS), Condensed Matter Physics (CMP), Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics (AMOP), and the emerging field of Mechanical Quantum Systems (MQS). The unifying theme for the IQIM is the exploration of collective quantum phenomena that endow physical systems of many interacting constituents with astonishing properties that in effect transform the weirdness of the microscopic quantum realm to macroscopic scales. The principal motivations for the creation of the IQIM are the extraordinary set of scientific opportunities associated with the study of exotic quantum states of matter and the potential for discovery brought by newly developed tools from Quantum Information Science. The IQIM ties together the diverse Caltech community of researchers, from physics to applied physics, to computer science, who focus on emergent quantum phenomena and provides a sustaining base for the scientific development of a new field of research that will actively involve national and international communities of researchers in QIS, CMP, AMOP, and MQS. By way of extensive programs in education and outreach, the IQIM will impact high school and college education and will engage the general public with the "mind boggling" nature of the quantum realm.

It has long been known that individual atoms and electrons, as well as electromagnetic and mechanical oscillators (i.e., photons and phonons), obey laws of quantum physics that in many respects defy common sense. Under the right conditions, interactions among many such quantum objects can lead to remarkable quantum phenomena that have heretofore not existed in nature. Advances to create, characterize, and utilize such exotic quantum phenomena have been made in condensed matter physics (CMP), atomic-molecular-optical physics (AMOP), and at the interface between these areas. In conjunction with parallel developments in quantum information science (QIS), a revolution is underway in the study of exotic quantum systems that is the unifying theme and driving motivation for the IQIM. Progress in the experimental realization and theoretical understanding in this area will surely have profound implications for basic physics. The IQIM will merge insights and analytic tools from QIS with advancing laboratory capabilities in CMP, AMOP, and MQS for the discovery and characterization of exotic quantum states of matter, and will thereby shed light on issues at the core of physics. Eventually, the ability to manipulate exotic quantum systems may lead to new technological capabilities, including methods for designing and exploiting quantum materials.

The Institute for Quantum Information and Matter will have the following scientific thrusts:

Quantum Information: Investigators at the current NSF-sponsored Institute for Quantum Information (IQI) have made Caltech a recognized world leader in theoretical QIS. IQI faculty are integral members of the IQIM and conduct research that is closely allied to the IQIM, e.g., the application of topological principles to quantum phase transitions and the discovery of universal features of entanglement that that distinguish quantum phases of matter. Research at the IQIM includes investigations of the connections between quantum information science and other aspects of basic physics. IQI scientists will lead the quest to apply insights into the properties of quantum entanglement for the study of quantum many-body systems and quantum phase transitions, as well as to apply quantum information theory to illuminate how information is encoded in spacetimes subject to strong quantum fluctuations. The IQI will also continue its world leading programs on quantum computation and communication.

Quantum Many-Body Physics: Caltech has world leading programs in the quantum physics of strongly interacting many-body systems (e.g., superconductors, exotic magnets, strongly correlated electron systems, etc.). Research thrusts in this area will emphasize emergent quantum phenomena, including quantum Hall physics, topological states of matter, exotic magnetic systems, and ultra-cold atomic gases, and with strong connections to powerful theoretical techniques from QIS. These studies will involve some of the most fascinating and puzzling manifestations of many-body quantum mechanics.

Quantum Optics: Another area of great strength at Caltech is the study of optical interactions at the level of one atom and photon, where seminal advances in the realization of new paradigms for light-matter interactions by way of micro- and nano-scopic optical cavities have been made. Within IQIM, existing capabilities for quantum control of strong interactions of single atoms and photons will be extended to explore quantum many-body systems composed of 1- and 2-D arrays of atoms whose interactions are mediated by photons in microscopic quantum optical circuits.

Quantum Mechanics of Mechanical Systems: Faculty in the IQIM in will build upon recent advances in opto- and electro-mechanics 1) to achieve quantum control of single phonons in simple material systems, thereby enabling lithographic fabrication of quantum many-body systems with phonon mediated interactions, and 2) to create human-sized objects in entangled quantum states within the setting of LIGO.

The IQIM has many facets beyond fundamental research to explore exotic quantum states of matter and the interface with QIS. With the end of scalability of conventional silicon-based information technology on the horizon, it is vitally important to explore aggressively new paradigms for information technology. By attracting and training top students and postdoctoral scholars in QIS, CMP, AMOP, and MQS, the IQIM will significantly strengthen the US presence in these areas and will broaden the nation's technical base. A particularly important aspect of the IQIM?s broader impact is a vibrant visitor program, which fuels intellectual excitement, facilitates collaborations and exchanges of scientific ideas, and performs a highly valued service for national and international communities at the interfaces of QIS, CMP, AMOP, and MQS.

The IQIM will also undertake extensive programs for outreach and the development of human resources. The goal is to use the public's fascination with the mysteries of the quantum realm to engage a broad community in basic science and education. Activities include the following:
The Caltech Precollege Science Initiative (CAPSI )- In collaboration with CAPSI, IQIM will develop high school curricula for one to two week instructional modules related to the scientific activities of the Institute,
Summer internships for high school teachers and students from multiethnic LA regional high schools,
Caltech MURF program for undergraduate research experience of minority students in IQIM laboratories,
Disseminating science via a science and entertainment partnership in collaboration with The Science and Entertainment Exchange (SEE),
Development of university curricula related to IQIM fields of research,
Public presentations via the Caltech Watson Lectures and YouTube videos.

These activities will be accessible via an interactive IQIM website.

Funding is provided by the Division of Physics in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences and the Division of Computing and Communication Foundations in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering.